Technology in governance
The rapid growth of technology offers government problem-solvers a new dimension, allowing them to move beyond the traditional tools of growing budgets and proliferating laws to find direct, action-oriented solutions, according to the White House’s chief technology officer. Aneesh Chopra, a 1997 graduate of the Kennedy School of Government who is President Obama’s chief technology officer, spoke Thursday (Sept. 23) as part of a two-day Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) conference on the importance of technology in governance. HKS officials brought together the speakers to help create a Technology and Governance Initiative. Venkatesh Narayanamurti, the former dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences who sits on the organizing committee, said that even when he was dean he thought that teaching and training in technology shouldn’t be limited to the engineering school because such skills can help in many other fields. This initiative, he said, will be organized over the next few...